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Rhino Doughnuts to Stampede SoFla

Dec 03rd 2013

It’s happened with pizza and burgers, tacos and cupcakes, coffee and beer. . . They’ve all been chefified and upscaled.

What’s next? Doughnuts, of course.

Or at least that’s the thought behind Rhino Doughnuts & Coffee, a soon-to-debut mini-chain that’s the brainchild (doughchild?) of local entrepreneurs Davin Tran and Tom Prakas, the latter of whom is to the restaurant brokering business what U2 is to the live concert industry.

The duo plans to open four Rhinos throughout the tri-county area by spring, with locations in Fort Lauderdale, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Sunrise and Mizner Park. They don’t intend to stop there, either, with further plans for sites from northern PBC to Wellington to Miami.

Rhino also plans to wipe the floor with the likes of Krispy Kreme and other mass market fried dough purveyors. Doughnut maestro and former pastry chef at Smith & Wollensky and the Boca Resort Keith Freiman will be making fresh doughnuts daily from his own “secret recipe,” making everything from glazes to fillings from scratch and turning out both traditional and slightly less traditional doughy circles, like maple-bacon and s’mores. There will be buns, muffins and other stuff too, plus the furiously trendy “cronut.”

They’re applying the same approach to coffee, using 100-percent Fair Trade beans, small-batch roasted to Rhino’s specifications. No firm date for the Boca opening yet, but when I know, you’ll know.